A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0410462 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1476-4687 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00280836 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nature Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Basingstoke : Nature Publishing Group
      Original Publication: London, Macmillan Journals ltd.
    • Subject Terms:
      Internet-Based Intervention* ; Psychology, Adolescent* ; Stress, Psychological*/prevention & control ; Stress, Psychological*/psychology ; Stress, Psychological*/therapy; Academic Success ; Adolescent ; Anxiety/prevention & control ; Bayes Theorem ; COVID-19 ; Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena ; Cognition ; Double-Blind Method ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone/analysis ; Machine Learning ; Mental Health ; Quarantine/psychology ; Self Administration ; Students/psychology ; United States
    • Abstract:
      Social-evaluative stressors-experiences in which people feel they could be judged negatively-pose a major threat to adolescent mental health 1-3 and can cause young people to disengage from stressful pursuits, resulting in missed opportunities to acquire valuable skills. Here we show that replicable benefits for the stress responses of adolescents can be achieved with a short (around 30-min), scalable 'synergistic mindsets' intervention. This intervention, which is a self-administered online training module, synergistically targets both growth mindsets 4 (the idea that intelligence can be developed) and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets 5 (the idea that one's physiological stress response can fuel optimal performance). In six double-blind, randomized, controlled experiments that were conducted with secondary and post-secondary students in the United States, the synergistic mindsets intervention improved stress-related cognitions (study 1, n = 2,717; study 2, n = 755), cardiovascular reactivity (study 3, n = 160; study 4, n = 200), daily cortisol levels (study 5, n = 118 students, n = 1,213 observations), psychological well-being (studies 4 and 5), academic success (study 5) and anxiety symptoms during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns (study 6, n = 341). Heterogeneity analyses (studies 3, 5 and 6) and a four-cell experiment (study 4) showed that the benefits of the intervention depended on addressing both mindsets-growth and stress-synergistically. Confidence in these conclusions comes from a conservative, Bayesian machine-learning statistical method for detecting heterogeneous effects 6 . Thus, our research has identified a treatment for adolescent stress that could, in principle, be scaled nationally at low cost.
      (© 2022. The Author(s).)
    • Comments:
      Update of: Res Sq. 2021 May 28;:. (PMID: 34075372)
    • References:
      Arch Intern Med. 2006 May 22;166(10):1092-7. (PMID: 16717171)
      J Pers Soc Psychol. 2013 Apr;104(4):716-33. (PMID: 23437923)
      Psychophysiology. 1992 Nov;29(6):734-41. (PMID: 1461960)
      J Pers Soc Psychol. 2019 Dec;117(6):e84-e99. (PMID: 31464480)
      Am Psychol. 2006 Apr;61(3):192-203. (PMID: 16594836)
      Psychol Bull. 2019 Feb;145(2):165-188. (PMID: 30652908)
      Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2019 Nov;109:104378. (PMID: 31382169)
      Am Psychol. 2021 Jul-Aug;76(5):755-767. (PMID: 33180534)
      Emotion. 2021 Feb;21(1):123-136. (PMID: 31566399)
      Perspect Psychol Sci. 2019 May;14(3):481-496. (PMID: 30707853)
      Child Dev. 2004 Jul-Aug;75(4):1039-52. (PMID: 15260863)
      J Exp Psychol Gen. 2022 Jan;151(1):197-212. (PMID: 34292050)
      Dev Psychopathol. 2022 Aug;34(3):1104-1114. (PMID: 33752772)
      J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2019 Sep;47(9):1533-1546. (PMID: 30903540)
      Psychophysiology. 1990 Jan;27(1):1-23. (PMID: 2187214)
      Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1981 Jun 6;282(6279):1847-51. (PMID: 6786649)
      Psychol Sci. 2016 Aug;27(8):1078-91. (PMID: 27324267)
      Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2020 Jun;29(3):219-226. (PMID: 32719574)
      Emotion. 2020 Feb;20(1):120-125. (PMID: 31961190)
      Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Jan;38(1):50-7. (PMID: 22641005)
      Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Jun;3(6):596-603. (PMID: 30988478)
      Health Psychol. 2016 Apr;35(4):387-96. (PMID: 27018730)
      Anxiety Stress Coping. 2018 May;31(3):245-261. (PMID: 29471669)
      J Educ Psychol. 2016 Apr;108(3):374-391. (PMID: 27524832)
      Nat Hum Behav. 2021 Aug;5(8):980-989. (PMID: 34294901)
      J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2019 Jul-Aug;48(4):656-668. (PMID: 29533089)
      Science. 2014 May 23;344(6186):843-51. (PMID: 24855259)
      J Res Adolesc. 2020 Sep;30(3):769-786. (PMID: 32386348)
      Psychol Bull. 2004 May;130(3):355-91. (PMID: 15122924)
      Psychol Sci. 2015 Jun;26(6):784-93. (PMID: 25862544)
      Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Sep;83:25-41. (PMID: 28578301)
      Nature. 2018 Feb 21;554(7693):441-450. (PMID: 29469094)
      Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2010 May;36(5):690-702. (PMID: 20388870)
      Am Psychol. 2020 Dec;75(9):1269-1284. (PMID: 33382294)
      Nature. 2019 Sep;573(7774):364-369. (PMID: 31391586)
      Behav Res Ther. 2017 May;92:57-67. (PMID: 28257982)
      Neuropsychobiology. 1993;28(1-2):76-81. (PMID: 8255414)
      J Exp Psychol Gen. 2012 Aug;141(3):417-22. (PMID: 21942377)
      J Youth Adolesc. 2020 Jun;49(6):1127-1145. (PMID: 32034632)
      Emot Rev. 2018 Jan;10(1):30-39. (PMID: 31178923)
    • Grant Information:
      P2C HD042849 United States HD NICHD NIH HHS; R01 HD084772 United States HD NICHD NIH HHS
    • Accession Number:
      WI4X0X7BPJ (Hydrocortisone)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20220706 Date Completed: 20220722 Latest Revision: 20240229
    • Publication Date:
      20240229
    • Accession Number:
      PMC9258473
    • Accession Number:
      10.1038/s41586-022-04907-7
    • Accession Number:
      35794485